Dispute Fuels Election Fears

Budget Feud Has Oliphant, Officials At Odds

The feud between Broward County commissioners and Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant has become increasingly personal and is raising alarm about the specter of another election debacle next year.

Election chiefs across Florida have received huge increases in their spending in preparation for the March presidential primary and September state elections. But the budget that commissioners forced on Oliphant this week leaves her with less money per person than her counterparts in the other major metropolitan areas.

Oliphant, Broward's only black official elected countywide, has suggested for the first time that the county's actions are racially motivated. While commissioners deny that, some of them flirted with the highly unusual steps of refusing to fund her office or requiring her to allow their auditors to sign off on every expense.

They said their actions are justified considering the mismanagement uncovered in her office over the past year.

Oliphant is vowing to go to court to get the $14.7 million she says is needed. If so, others fear that the dispute threatens to turn next year's elections into a repeat of the disastrous primary last September or the presidential election fiasco of 2000.

"I've never seen it this bad," said Theresa LePore, Palm Beach County's elections supervisor and head of the state association of election administrators. "If she hadn't had so many problems leading up to this, I don't think you'd be where you are now. But there's been a level of animosity created, and you have to worry about what lies ahead."

County commissioners gave Oliphant $9.6 million, a 53 percent increase over last year's spending, after negotiations broke down. She has until Oct. 1 to decide whether to accept it all in cash or take $9 million and the help of 800 county employees during the two major elections.

Oliphant argued that she needs $14.7 million to properly administer the elections given the high cost of using the new touch-screen voting machines and meeting the needs of 1 million people voting at 800 precincts. She accuses the county commissioners of micromanaging and ignoring the advice of professionals in her office.

"Is it my gender?" she asked at a news conference this week. "Is it the hue of my skin? I hope those are not the reasons this County Commission has refused to extend me the courtesy of letting me manage my office without interference."

The county's budget leaves her with less money per person than elections supervisors in Tampa, St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach and Orlando, with only Miami-Dade County spending less. Those five counties will spend an average of $6.67 per resident on elections next year, while Broward's budget devotes $5.62 per resident.

Oliphant's proposal would have spent more per person than any of the other communities -- $8.60.

The budget for the Tampa supervisor is growing from $3.9 million to $6.2 million, while Palm Beach County's goes from $5.5 million to $8.5 million. Miami-Dade added 13 employees for a total staff of 94. Oliphant received four additional employees for a total staff of 69.

Oliphant argues the budget given her may pose problems running next year's elections. But county officials said they were justified based on the analysis of their budget staff and experience helping oversee the general election last November.

"Everybody submits a Rolls Royce budget, and they get back a Ford or a Chevy," Commissioner Lori Parrish said. "If you gave everyone everything they wanted, our budget would be a bazillion dollars and it would be a grossly unfair burden to the taxpayers."

County officials argue comparisons with other counties are oversimplified.

Some election supervisors have lower costs because they rely on the county for personnel, financial and legal services, and others have higher costs because they must rent office space. Broward is listed as having the most voters in the state, but Oliphant has not completed a state-mandated purge of the rolls to eliminate voters who have moved or died.

County officials and other election administrators also said Oliphant made extreme assumptions in developing her budget, assumptions that are out of line with past years locally or elsewhere in the state.

She planned for 2,500 ballot styles, while the county budget staff estimated about 100 formats. Ballots differ by precinct depending on what races area residents are supposed to vote on. The difference between the two scenarios amounts to almost $1 million.

She also budgeted for mailing 400,000 new registration cards to voters who have moved, changed parties or lost their cards. The county estimated a need for 250,000 cards, a difference of $90,000.

County administrators said that if their projections prove inaccurate, Oliphant could return for a budget increase.